Rom-coms return with A-list celebs after long drought for the genre

Rom-com lovers rejoice: bigger-budget, A-list led romantic comedies are making a comeback.

On Friday, The Lost City, starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum (with at least a cameo from Brad Pitt) lands in theatres across Canada. 

Bullock plays Loretta Sage, an author who writes romantic novels featuring a Fabio-esque Tatum. She ends up being kidnapped by a billionaire and has to help find a literal lost city (a nice nod to 1984's Romancing the Stone).

The film has an estimated budget of $74 million US, according to Deadline, one of many bets that streaming services and movie studios are placing on rom-coms this year. 

Julia Roberts and George Clooney's Ticket To Paradise will land in theatres this fall, while Reese Witherspoon's Your Place or Mine is in the works for Netflix later this year.

LGBTQ rom-coms with big names are also in the works. Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang leads the upcoming rom-com Fire Island (based on Pride and Prejudice), and Billy Eichner's stab at the genre, Bros, will be out this fall. 

The impressive slate of rom-coms comes after a few years of limited options. 

"I think the death of the rom-com is actually more like the death of the mid-budget studio movie," said Scott Meslow, author of From Hollywood with Love: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy. 

"You either make a $300-million movie about Spider-Man or you make a $10-million movie that might have a shot at a best picture Oscar. Rom-coms are right in the middle of the gap … I think the studios are basically trying to figure out how they can get back into rom-coms."

Marry Me, starring Jennifer Lopez, unofficially launched the 2022 return of the genre in February. The film got mixed reviews, but it made more than $49 million US worldwide (with a budget of about $23 million US, according to Deadline). 

Earlier this month, Comcast CEO and chairman Brian Roberts said the film was American streaming service Peacock's most-streamed "day-and-date movie," according to Variety.

Meslow says Marry Me wasn't the return to form he was hoping for Lopez, who has starred in some of the most beloved rom-coms of the last few decades, including The Wedding Planner and Maid in Manhattan. 

But it does signal a renewed investment in the genre from studios and audiences.

Toronto-based filmmaker Faran Moradi is hoping that interest extends to smaller-budget productions as well.